Waiting at St Mungo's
by botany957
Summary: Remus is waiting for Tonks' to wake up at the battle at the Department of Mysteries, when her parents appear demanding answers.


_Wake up, wake up._

This was the willing of his entire being. Sitting in a very austere room at St. Mungo's, this was all Remus Lupin could focus on. There was nothing else he could do for her right now. His Muggle grandmother would have prayed the rosary and asked for divine intervention, but Remus was long past those boyhood days with his Gran.

And there was a desperation. There were the emotions he could not deal with right now. The emotions of a loss he was not ready to accept, and even less ready to accept another. The Healers assured him that the danger had passed, she would recover, and her body would wake up when she was ready, but he needed her to wake up. He had never seen her so fragile. Perhaps it was the lack of vivacious hair, or the realization that in her subconscious that she reverted back to her natural state. She looked every inch a Black right now- no, he couldn't think of that now. He couldn't think about his friend, not yet.

Fortunately, this reverie was broken by a commotion that he should have expected, but was not ready for. "Out of my way!" barked an imposing female voice, one that was so severely familiar that he was up in a moment with his wand at the ready. But instead of the insane aunt that had wounded her only hours before, a worried mother and father bustled into the room. A cry strangled in her mother's throat as she rushed over to her girl, and Remus was reminded for not the first time how young Tonks really was.

Her father glanced over to him, and given a moment, he said "R-Remus? Remus Lupin?"

"Hullo, Ted. I'm so sorry, I'll just get out-"

"No-stay." Andromeda Tonks looked up at him. "You are going to give me a straight answer," despite her tear stained eyes, her voiced was steel itself. But Remus was not with an iron constitution.

"I have intruded on a family moment, and I will be on my-" 

"Sirius once considered you family, and by extension, so do I." Andromeda straightened her spine, as her face hardened into a chilling familiar voice that he had seen hours earlier. "My cousin is dead, with rumors of him being innocent, You-Know-Who is said to have returned, and my daughter is lying in a bed in St. Mungo's because of a Dark Curse, potentially at the hands of my sister. I need answers. And you, Remus Lupin, who I have not seen in fifteen years, have reappeared at the side of my daughter's bed. You know something."

Remus inwardly resigned. Andromeda may have the surname Tonks, but she was a Black through and through. "Tonks responded to a call to protect some students, who through misinformation and trickery by Death Eaters were led to the Department of Mysteries. She, Sirius, and others including myself, rushed to protect them. She dueled her aunt which led to injuries, but the Healers have said that the danger is passed. They put her in a deep sleep so that her body can heal itself."

"That doesn't answer how she got there before Aurors knew about the break-in, or how you are involved, or how you know Sirius was innocent." 

"Those are not my answers to give." Remus said firmly. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you, but you were in the first war, I am sure you already know the answer. I brought Tonks here, and I didn't want to leave her alone with all her questions. The Weasleys have been by, and I'm sure Molly Weasley will be back around"

Ted took this moment to diffuse the frostiness, with his easygoing manner. "This has been a difficult situation for all of us, Andy, especially Remus who I am sure has not slept or had time to grieve over everything that has happened. Remus, we are so grateful that you got 'Dora here and you have been keeping vigil. Andy and I will keep watch over her. We will tell her you were here."

Remus wanted to argue with them, that he should stay, and keep watch, but he realized that was not his place. He was technically nothing to her, especially in the eyes of her parents. His heart did not want to go back to Grimmauld Place and the loneliness that awaited him, along with the grief. "Send word the moment she wakes, please." He looked at Andromeda in the eye. "I think that it will be best if I tell her about Sirius."

After getting the nod of confirmation, he pressed his hand into Tonks. "Wake soon, Nymphadora. All of us need you." _Or, rather, I need you_ , he thought sadly. And with that, he left the dotting parents to watch over their daughter.


End file.
